Parmigiani Fleurier have unveiled their latest timepiece.
This unique movement tracks the Hijiri calendar – an old Islamic Tabular calendar.
While many of us will think of a watch as a means to tell the time, they can be used for far more than that. Indeed, the best watches in the world have often included complications designed to offer even more.
Over the last few years, one brand has gone further with this than any other. Parmigiani Fleurier have been rampantly building some of the most unique complications on the market.
The latest addition to that range is the new Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Hiriji Perpetual Calendar. Described as a "horological expression of the Tablular Islamic calendar" this is a watch with complications you may never see again.
Four sub-dials are present on the face of the watch, delivering a host of information. That starts at the 12 o'clock sub-dial, where we can read the year within the 30-year cycle of the Hijiri calendar. That contains both common years – represented with a white line – and abundant years – represented with a gold Arabic character.
Moving around to the 3 o'clock dial, we find the month of the year. Those are denoted with the Arabic character in white, with the month of Ramadan – month nine – represented in red.
The 6 o'clock dial plays host to a moon phase complication. Both sides are exposed, showcasing the moon as seen from both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It's crafted from Aventurine – just like the Christopher Ward C1 Moon Phase – for a really classy look.
Last, but certainly not least, we have the 9 o'clock sub-dial. That shows off the day of the month, with even numbered days sporting their Arabic character, and odd numbered days represented by a line. The 30th day is shown in gold, and a disc rotates between white and gold to showcase whether the month has 29 or 30 days.
All of that sits on a Veridian Green dial with a hand guilloche finish. It's cased in stainless steel, with platinum used for the bezel. The 42mm case sits a remarkable 11.2mm thick. Given the sheer volume of complications inside, that's quite remarkable. You'll even find 100m of water resistance on offer – though we don't recommend taking it for a dip too often.
Priced from £61,750, you'll need deep pockets to own one of these. But if you've got a hankering for a truly unique timepiece, this is about as good as you'll get.
